Erised
by amyownfie
Summary: A collection of short scenes where other characters from the Harry Potter books encounter the mirror of erised.


Summary. A collection of short scenes where other characters from the Harry Potter books encounter the mirror of erised.

1 - Severus

The mirror had been a temptation that Dumbledore had told him was not worth indulging in. But as long as it remained in the halls of Hogwarts, Snape would not be able to resist looking into it, it was truly an intoxicating and dangerous artifact.

When he had first heard of the mirror, he thought he knew what he would see. Lily Evans in his arms, but it wasn't so simple for him. He gave into the temptation to look and instead saw Lily, not as an Evans, but a Potter, stood with her husband and son, alive and well. Alive. And happy. Perhaps if he had found the mirror while he was in school, he would have seen himself with Lily, but this was far more heartbreaking for him. He no longer wanted Lily for himself, it was far simpler and infinitely more complicated. He simply wanted his part in Lily's death to be undone, leaving a happy family behind.

He had pondered sharing this with Dumbledore but decided against it. He instead sent a small note to the one person he should resent most in the world along with a small item Lily had once gifted him. It was a daisy, pressed and aged. It was the flower lily had given him when they were children, back before the world got complicated.

The note simply read; _What you see in the mirror is the same as I. Your mother made this, keep it._

He sent the daisy and note to the recipient late one night in the clutches of a trustworthy owl.

When Harry received the curious envelope, he felt infinitely more sad and happy at the same time. He had a piece of his mother to hold on to. A piece that would, in the years to come, be taped into the album Hagrid had gifted him.

He would never know who the message came from, but that didn't matter to Harry, because he no longer felt alone in his secret longing with another somewhere in the world who wished for the same thing.

For Harry to have his parents.

2 - Teddy

His godfather had warned him about the danger of such an artifact, sharing with him the story of his own discovery, one that was most troubling to not only Harry, but to his wife also. But an eleven year old metamorphmagus had shrugged off the warning, too desperate to see what he would witness in the mirror. He and Victoire had gone searching for the mirror, eventually finding it in the most magical of rooms.

Victoire had looked first, though she refused to share what she saw. She had always been a simple girl and seemed not to be enthralled by the reflection like his godfather had warned, so Teddy took a breath and looked into his reflection.

He couldn't breathe as he saw the two faces of his parents staring back at him. Tears streamed down his face and he fell to his knees, clutching Victoire's hand for support. After a few moments, Teddy was no longer sad, but angry. He sprinted from the room, vowing never to look into the horrid glass again.

But at the end of his seventh year, now accepting of his parents' deaths, he returned to the mirror and was enthralled by what he saw. A young blonde half veela stood next to him in a graveyard, looking down at the place where his parents were buried. But this was not simply a desire, it was real. His best friend had stood with him every year at his parents' grave, placing a small bouquet of flowers for them.

The mirror was no longer the object of Teddy's hatred, not after what he saw, because it was no longer showing him something out of reach. His greatest desire had already been fulfilled.

3 - Draco

Draco Malfoy had stumbled across the mirror in his sixth year while trying to fix a vanishing cabinet. He had spent many weeks puzzling over what he saw. He simply stood with his mother at his side, something he already had. But after months of the distraction, he turned to the most unlikely of people, who strangely stood as a ghost in the glass, moving closer to him each time he returned to look.

Hermione Granger had become something he saw in his reflection, which made no sense to a man who did not know the mirror's true nature. He decided to be tactful about the approach, sending an unsigned letter to the Gryffindor about the nature of the object he had found.

His reply had come and it made the situation more troubling than before. She knew exactly what the mirror was. It showed the thing in the world you want the most. But Draco didn't see one thing, he saw two people at his side, a most troubling puzzle.

He decided to give up in his anonymity, sketching the mirror and the image he saw inside, begging for her to tell him what it meant.

She had met with him several days later, the drawing clutched tightly in her hand. She had assumed it was some joke, something to try to make her do something stupid. She screamed at him for the letters and was later repulsed by the mark she saw on his arm. She cursed him for doing it and left screaming about how he shouldn't have created something so ludicrous. But he knew it wasn't the work of fiction. It was something more than that, he just didn't know what it meant.

4 - Neville

He had been shown the mirror by Harry long after the war was over. Harry had assumed Neville would be able to see his parents, but he was far from right.

Neville stood in front of the glass and saw nothing. It was a simple reflection to him.

He was rather proud of himself. He had dreaded what he might see with his reflection, but was comforted to know that it was clear. The only small difference being that his familiar, Trevor, sat on his reflection's shoulder. Trevor was back at home, swimming lazily in the pond Neville had created for the toad.

Neville didn't see anything different, simply a representation of the man he had become. A man he knew his parents could be proud of, and a man who no longer cowered away from life.

Neville was content and his reflection showed only that.

5 - Albus

He had lied to Harry when he stated that he saw himself with a pair of socks in the mirror.

He saw something far more heartbreaking.

He saw his sister, young and beautiful, staring back at him. He had always known that his desire would be the return of his sister which was why he had searched so long for the deathly hallows, but something changed within him when he turned the resurrection stone thrice in his hand.

He gained peace, seeing his sister's spirit.

And from that day, his statement to Harry was no longer a lie. He truly did see himself receiving a particularly colourful pair of socks.

6 - Hermione

She had poured over the image Draco had sent her for weeks, even after she had screamed at him and thrown nasty curses in his direction. She knew it was strange to be so invested in decoding the image, looking for the hidden meaning she knew was there. But the answer had come and she didn't hesitate to seek out the Slytherin and drag him back to the mirror.

"Look." She urged, standing next to him, staring at his face as he gazed into the mirror. "Your arm, what do you see?"

"Nothing." Draco shrugged before a smile spread across his face. "I don't have the mark."

Hermione smiled back, leaning her head on his shoulder, looking into the mirror. She knew that she should have seen something profound, not the simple reflection of herself and Draco. She knew that she had crushed on him for several years, covering it over with most people's expectations of her wanting to be with Ron, though that would never be true.

"Why do you think you see me?" Hermione asked hopefully, turning her gaze from the mirror to observe Draco.

He began to blush, glancing at anything but her. "I don't know." He lied, making Hermione grin even wider.

"I think I do." She smiled, turning Draco's head so that she could look at him.

Draco didn't hesitate to press a kiss to Hermione's lips, the pair closing their eyes.

Hermione didn't notice, but the image in the mirror changed slightly, with two women smiling at the pair. One had bushy brown hair and the other had beautiful black hair. Narcissa Malfoy and her own mother were stood there, happy to see Hermione with Draco.

She would never look into the mirror again, so she would never know that she had achieved her heart's deepest desire.

7 - George

Life was hard for the ginger, because he did not care for the mirror Harry had once described. He did not need the mirror to show him his heart's desire.

Every mirror did that for him anyway.


End file.
